ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — No punches, no angry words exchanged.

With first place on the line in the AL East, the Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox stuck to playing baseball last night.

James Shields scattered five hits over 6 1/3 innings and B.J. Upton and Gabe Gross homered, helping the Rays remain unbeaten at home against the Red Sox with a 5-4 victory that hiked their lead to 1 1/2 games in the division.

"This is an intense series," Boston's Mike Lowell said. "I know there's a little history, but I think both teams played good baseball."

The Rays (50-32), surprising owners of the best record in baseball, have won six of seven and shrugged off a six-game losing streak to Boston, which is 6-0 against Tampa Bay at Fenway Park but 0-4 at Tropicana Field.

It was the first meeting between the combative division rivals since their much talked about June 5 benches-clearing brawl at Fenway that led to the suspensions of eight players, including Shields (6-5).

"I knew from both sides nothing was going to happen. It was over," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "We're professionals, they're professionals, and all that business is in the past."

Shields limited Boston to two runs before Tampa Bay's bullpen barely held on.

Closer Troy Percival limped off the mound after appearing to tweak a sore hamstring backing up the plate on Jason Varitek's sacrifice fly. J.P. Howell earned his second save when Julio Lugo lined out.

Rangers 2, Yankees 1: Scott Feldman and a reshuffled Texas bullpen shut down host New York on four hits. Feldman (2-4) allowed a run in 5 2/3 innings, and Rangers relievers threw 3 1/3 perfect innings.

Royals 6, Orioles 5: Miguel Olivo homered off George Sherrill with two outs in the ninth to force extra innings, and Jose Guillen singled in the tiebreaking run in the 11th for Kansas City against host Baltimore.

Tigers 5, Twins 4: Curtis Granderson's go-ahead RBI single capped Detroit's two-run eighth inning over host Minnesota.

White Sox 9, Indians 7: Nick Swisher homered from both sides of the plate, hitting his second grand slam in four games and adding a solo shot to lead host Chicago over Cleveland.

Blue Jays 2, Seattle 0: Roy Halladay pitched his 10th career shutout against host Seattle. Halladay (9-6) gave up just four singles in the Blue Jays' third straight win.

Athletics 6, Angels 1: Rookie Greg Smith (5-6) threw a four-hitter, Eric Chavez hit a two-run double, and visiting Oakland beat Los Angeles.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Cardinals 7, Mets 1: Kyle Lohse allowed an unearned run in seven innings for his seventh straight win and Albert Pujols had two hits and two RBIs as host St. Louis beat New York. Lohse (10-2) allowed five hits, struck out four and walked two.

Reds 4, Pirates 3: Ken Griffey Jr. hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning off Matt Capps (1-3) to rally host Cincinnati over Pittsburgh.

Astros 4, Dodgers 1: Houston's Roy Oswalt (7-8) struck out nine in six strong innings, then left in the seventh with a strained hip against visiting Los Angeles. Manager Cecil Cooper said Oswalt was "day-to-day."

Marlins 6, Nationals 5: Josh Willingham hit a home run, his second of the game, in the bottom of the 10th for Florida after Hanley Ramirez had forced extra innings with a homer in the ninth against visiting Washington.

Padres 15, Rockies 8: Edgar Gonzalez's second homer of the game capped San Diego's seven-run ninth inning against host Colorado.

Diamondbacks 6, Brewers 3: Mark Reynolds homered, doubled twice and drove in three runs to lead NL West leader Arizona against visiting Milwaukee.

Cubs 9, Giants 2: Mark DeRosa hit a grand slam and a two-run homer to match his career high with six RBIs and Ted Lilly (9-5) pitched eight shutout innings as Chicago beat host San Francisco.